The Grounding Of The Sea Empress

On Thursday, February 15, 1996, the Spanish-built, Norwegian-owned, Cyprus-registered, Glasgow-managed, French-chartered, Russian-crewed, and Liberian-flagged Sea Empress struck the Milford Channel Rock in Milford Haven harbour, Wales. Nearly half the ship's cargo -- 70,000 tons of light crude oil -- spilled into the Irish Sea. The pilot (who came on board to help navigate the final part of the journey to the docks) had attempted to steer west of the rock, which lay in the middle of the harbour. A strong eastward-tugging tide arose, defeating his efforts to keep the 147,000-ton vessel clear.

Before the collision, the captain and harbour pilot had not discussed or agreed upon a plan for their approach to the docks. The captain, the chief officer and the helmsman all spoke Russian and were not fluent in English, raising questions about possible communications problems between them an